‘Yohannan has no stake in Cheruvally estate’

TNN | Updated: Dec 7, 2016, 10:16 IST

Pinarayi Vijayan.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government does not need permission from K P Yohannan to set up airport in the Cheruvally estate, BJP national executive member V Muraleedharan said. In a statement here on Tuesday, he said that the opposition from the BJP was only with regard to the government purchasing its own land from a private individual and setting up airport by giving him a stake. He said that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the government is proposing to set up airport in Cheruvally estate. But the government had identified the proposed site as encroached land. This was clarified in the report by special officer for resumption of government land M G Rajamanickam.

Muraleedharan said that when the government plans to buy the 2,200 acre Cheruvally estate from the encroachers and set up the airport, it would set a wrong precedence for encroachers of government land in other areas. The opposition was against this move that would set the ground for large-scale corruption, he said. The estate, which was being held by Gospel for Asia headed by K P Yohannan, was part of 5,200 acres that was taken over by the special officer along with the land held by Travancore Rubber and Tea Company Ltd and Riya Resorts and Properties Pvt Ltd. Cheruvalli estate is one among the estates that was sold by Harrisons Malayalam Ltd in 2005 that the government has said, is illegal.